We are a small Episcopal Church on the banks of the Rappahannock in Port Royal, Virginia. We acknowledge that we gather on the traditional land of the first people of Port Royal, the Nandtaughtacund, and we respect and honor with gratitude the land itself, the legacy of the ancestors, and the life of the Rappahannock Tribe. Our mission statement is to do God’s Will in all that we do.

2024 Sun Aug 18

Aug 24 – The Feast Day of St. Bartholomew

St. Bartholomew

Bartholomew was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus, and is usually identified as Nathaniel and was a doctor or architect. In Mark 3:18 he is one of the twelve Jesus calls to be with him. He was introduced to us as a friend of Philip, another of the twelve apostles as per (John 1:43-51), where the name Nathaniel first appears. He is also mentioned as “Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee” in (John 21:2).

As a Biblical figure, we know Bartholomew primarily through the Gospel of John, which calls him Nathanael. Philip introduces Nathanael (Bartholomew) to Jesus. Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” (John 1:48). Then Bartholomew make a powerful confessin of faith. “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel.” (John 1:49)

Here is the video from the Chosen on the event

He was characterized by Jesus on the first meeting as a man “in whom there was no guile.” The Catholic News Agency wrote this. “We are presented with the Apostle’s character in this brief and beautiful dialogue with the Lord Jesus. He is a good Jew, honest and innocent, a just man, who devotes much time to quiet reflection and prayer – “under the fig tree (1:48)” – and has been awaiting the Messiah, the Holy One of God.”

His day is remembered on August 24. After the Resurrection he was favored by becoming one of the few apostles who witnessed the appearance of the risen Savior on the sea of Galilee (John 21:2).

From Eusebius history, Bartholomew went on a missionary tour to India, where he left behind a copy of the Gospel of Matthew. Other traditions record him as serving as a missionary in Ethiopia, Mesopotamia, Parthia, and Lycaonia.

Along with his fellow apostle Jude, Bartholomew is reputed to have brought Christianity to Armenia in the 1st century. Thus both saints are considered the patron saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church. He is said to have been martyred in in Armenia. According to one account, he was beheaded, but a more popular tradition holds that he was flayed alive and crucified, head downward. He is said to have converted Polymius, the king of Armenia, to Christianity. His brother consequently ordered Bartholomew’s execution. The 13th century Saint Bartholomew Monastery was a prominent Armenian monastery constructed at the site of the martyrdom of Apostle Bartholomew in what is today southeastern turkey

Recent Articles, Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Aug. 18, 2024

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Aug. 18

St. Peter’s, August, 2021


August’s sturgeon moon


Lectionary, Aug. 18
Lectionary analysis
Visual Lectionary for Aug 18
The “Bread of Life” discourse in John
The Bread of Life Discourse – Part 3
Jonathan Roumie’s Full Speech at the National Eucharistic Congress – Bread of Life
In and Around the Web


Jonathan Myrick Daniel, Aug. 14, 2024
The Virgin Mary, Aug. 15, 2024
The Feast Day of St. Bartholomew, Aug 24, 2024

Pentecost 13, Year B, Aug. 18, 2024

I. Theme –   Living the Abundant life -Connecting to God as source of wisdom, energy, and adventure.

“The Wedding Feast” -Jan Breughel the Elder (undated, died in 1625)

The lectionary readings are here  or individually:

Old Testament – Proverbs 9:1-6
Psalm – Psalm 34:9-14
Epistle –Ephesians 5:15-20
Gospel – John 6:51-58

Today’s readings continue the theme of God’s sustenance with the emphasis on the eternal consequences. In Proverbs  Wisdom gives a feast to which all are invited. Paul encourages Christians to be filled with God’s Spirit. Jesus promises that all who eat his flesh will live forever.

Jesus’ words about eating his flesh and drinking his blood in the Gospel shocked even his disciples. Early in the Old Testament, blood was identified with life and deemed sacred because God is the source of life. The spilling of human blood was considered an outrage against God.

Eating flesh containing blood was prohibited in the Pentateuch. The penalty for doing so was expulsion from God’s people. Blood was removed from use as food and reserved for sacramental purposes. In the rites of atonement, blood symbolized the yielding up of the worshiper’s life to God and the atoning communion of worshipers with God.

But in John’s gospel, Jesus tells the people, enigmatically, that he is the fulfillment of this sacrificial atonement. In the light of the age-long prohibition against eating flesh containing blood, his words, heard in a literal sense, were quite offensive. But they brought a promise of eternal life.

Not only the atonement, finished on the cross, but also the living instrument of its communication—the eucharist—transcends our ability to understand. In some unseen, incomprehensible way, the energy of redeeming love is transmitted, and we receive food for eternal life. By faith, we allow Christ’s life to penetrate our being and nourish our life. God’s own life comes to us through the natural and temporal elements of bread and wine, so that we, natural and temporal creatures, may become vehicles of God’s supernatural grace.  We participate in terms of a radical embrace of God’s vision so that it becomes the center of our self-understanding. God is in us, just as we are in God.

Eating and drinking are of symbolic significance in most religions, especially in Christianity. Natural life depends on our giving and taking these necessities. The eucharist reminds us of the self-offering of our lord and our dependence on him for our soul’s life. It provides us with a continuous supernatural apprehension of eternity. It suffuses our little lives with the creative spirit of Christ and fits us for our vocation to transform the world.

Read more

The Bread of Life Discourse – Part 3

Reference – Gospel reading for Aug. 18

The Aug 11 Gospel from John contains a preview of Aug 18.  “Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

This week we start with the phrase. “Jesus said, ‘I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

The keywords are “living bread that came down from heaven” and “flesh”. The former was not included at the end of Aug 11.

The Presbyterian Outlook publication for  Aug 18 gets at the heart of the issues.

“This is not a simple proposition. How is Jesus living bread? What does it have to do with eternal life? How is this bread Jesus’ flesh, and are we indeed asked to eat it? It was clearly confusing to his hearers. They immediately dispute among themselves, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (v. 52). And later in verse 60 on Aug 25, they say, ‘This teaching is difficult, who can accept it?'”

There are overtones with the Eucharist – “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you”. The other Gospels include the “Institution Narrative” at the Last Supper, where Jesus breaks bread and says, “This is my body given to you”. Luke 22:19 also includes the blessing of the bread during the Last Supper. John doesn’t do this but includes the first teachings about the Eucharist before the last Supper. Unlike the Synoptic Gospels, John does not include the moment of institution of the Lord’s Supper. In his upper room narrative, he focuses on foot washing.

John’s focus is not only on Jesus giving the bread as in the Euchairst but also on him being the bread. It is a focus on meaning as well as action.

From Presbyterian Outlook “For John, participation in Jesus’ life is a relationship of depth and intimacy. Jesus is the believer’s food, the required nourishment for a life far surpassing what we might consider a regular human life. It is not just about trusting in Jesus or doing what Jesus would do. It is about living within Jesus, having life from God as Jesus came from God.”

The word “abide” is a  common phrase such as “Abide in Me and I in you” John 15. John uses the word “abide” 24 times! You may relate it to participation.

“In this text, Jesus both gives the bread of life, and he is the bread of life. He is both giver and gift. This is his deepest identity in John’s Gospel. We, as believers, receive this gift, and participate in Jesus. Thus, we too become both gift and giver for others.”

Yes, as followers we have to abide, participate, live, and extend Jesus’ version of the Kingdom and share it with others. The benefit which John contrasts with their ancestors is eternal life. They didn’t get this from the Manna though it came down from heaven as does the “Bread of Life”. With Jesus – “But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

Jonathan Roumie’s Full Speech at the National Eucharistic Congress

Johnathan plays Jesus in “The Chosen.”

This is his full Speech at the National Eucharistic Congress which took place from July 17–21, 2024 in Indianapolis. The Congress was a Catholic event “a gathering of clergy, religious, and laity to bear witness to the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.”

His work on filming the series leads to the Gospel from John at 8:43. He will be speaking from John 6:51-58 which will be heard this week (Aug. 18, 2024).

Aug’s Super Blue Moon

What is a super blue moon?
A super blue moon is simultaneously a full moon, blue moon, and a super moon.

When – The full moon’s peak will occur on Monday afternoon, according to NASA, at 2:26 p.m. EDT It will appear for three days, from Sunday morning until early Wednesday morning.

1 Full moon – A full moon is a lunar phase that occurs when the Earth, Sun, and Moon are in a line, with the Earth in the middle and the Sun fully illuminating the side of the Moon that faces Earth. This makes the Moon appear as a complete circle in the sky, and is often considered the most striking of the lunar phases because the Moon reflects the most sunlight towards Earth during this time.

2 Blue moon -A blue moon is not about the color of the moon, but instead the frequency of the full moon. There are two definitions of a blue moon—the first describes when there are two full moons in a single month. Since the moon’s cycle is 29.5 days, and our average calendar month is 30-31 days, it is incredibly rare to have two full moons in one single month, but it is possible, happening every two to three years, according to NASA. Around 3% of full moons are blue moons.

There are also seasonal blue moons, in which a calendar season contains four full moons instead of the usual three, and the blue moon is the third of the four full moons. August’s full moon is of this variety. The next seasonal blue moon is expected in May 2027.

3. Super moon -The super moon part refers to the moon’s orbit, which brings it slightly closer to Earth this month, making it appear bigger and brighter. This occurs since the moon’s orbit around the Earth is elliptical instead of just a circle, and thus there are times when the moon is further and closer to our planet.

During the moon’s closest approach to Earth, it can appear approximately 14% larger and shine 30% brighter than when at its farthest point in the orbit. This will be the first of four consecutive super moons this year, and it is less rare than the blue moon, occurring three or four times a year.

4. August’s full moon is often called the Sturgeon moon, dubbed by the Algonquin Native American tribe living in the Great Lakes area and throughout what is now known as the northeastern United States. They named the full moon after sturgeons—a type of large fish—which were most plentiful in the lakes during the month of August.

According to NASA, the combination of the super moon and the blue moon is rare, and the time between their occurrences is quite “irregular” and could be as much as 20 years, with 10 years between the average.

Though we had a super blue moon somewhat recently, in August 2023, NASA predicts the next super blue moons will occur in January and March 2037

 

In and Around the Web

Ten articles you may (or may not) find interesting…

1. A small N.C. church reaches out in big ways

They are bigger than us – 70 members but not that much bigger. The major difference is their town is bigger:

  • “On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the parish hall bustles with up to a dozen children and a handful of adult church volunteers, who help them with their homework in math and English.
  • “Soon, the church will plow a 10,000-square-foot plot of land in the rear of the sanctuary to prepare the soil for next spring’s planting season.
  • “Now, Advent is beginning, and the church will adopt several needy families and shower them with gifts on Christmas.
  • ‘North of town, a retired telephone marketer and church member has been baking cakes for every foster child in the county for the past 10 years.”

2. Woman reads to dogs, returning the love

“There are small ways to make a difference and this lady from the North Shore in Pittsburgh is the perfect example… The dogs won’t understand what she’s reading, but hearing a calm human voice has proven to comfort shelter animals before. This is a nice reminder that there are other ways besides adoption to support animals who have forgotten what it means to be loved.  “

There is a related article here about children reading to cats.

Read more